Monday, May 15, 2017

Chapter 334 Who would have thought it possible

Ronnie, who had been
watching from afar, stepped in and stopped Sophie from following them. “Sophie, cut your mom some slack, okay?” he said. “Violet’s been waiting for this
moment for a very long time. She was the only one that still had faith that one
day her mother would be normal again.”

“How do you know anything
about it?” Sophie snapped.

“I was just listening to
Dr. Kruger talking to my dad and my grandfather about her case,” he said. “It’s really amazing… she had some uber experimental surgery which coulda killed her,
so it’s a miracle she’s here at all!""So...what happened to her? Why was she in a mental hospital?" Sophie asked."From what I could get, your grandmother’s been in sort of like a coma or something for like thirty years… only she wasn’t asleep, not really, cuz she was wide awake
and could hear everything and… and… doesn’t make sense to me, so don't take my word for it, but I’ll bet Simon would
understand and he’d love to hear all about it and learn from it!”

Still thoroughly miffed,
Sophie shrugged. “Fine, then. Is Simon back yet?” she said.

Ronnie shook his head just
as Morris came up to them. “Hey, Grampa,” he said. “We’re coming to eat now.”

“I know you’re probably starving, but I want to give you your Christmas
present,” Morris said, smiling like a maniac while placing a toy race car
into Ronnie’s hand.

“Uh…thank you?” Ronnie said with an amused grin. “Are you sure this isn’t better for Peter or
Julian?”

Ronnie’s jaw dropped. “You’re fricken kidding me,” he muttered, staring at a shiny, new, bright blue Dodge Charger—the exact model he still clutched in his hand—parked at the curb, life-size with a huge silver bow on the hood.

Ronnie stood rooted to
the spot, shaking his head slightly, his mouth hanging open like a dead cod
fish and his eyes just as glazed over.

Sophie rolled her eyes
and pushed Ronnie toward the car. “My guess is he likes it,
Mr. Kramer,” she said.

“Like it? I love it!” Ronnie said, reaching out a tentative hand to touch it, just in
case it was a mere illusion. Then he frowned and turned to his grandfather. “But…Grampa, you can’t be serious. You can’t just give me a car, specially not a car like this.”

Morris shook his head. “Talked it over with your dad first and he was okay with it…after a bit of negotiating,” he said.

“What was there to
negotiate?” Sophie asked, peering into the passenger side window. “Did he pick out the interior? It's totally sweet!”

“He wouldn’t let me get you the super-charged Charger. Pity, because I
really wanted a top-speed ride in it, but…oh, well…Victor said it was just asking for trouble,” Morris said, wistfully.

“Let’s see,” Sophie said pretending to weigh scales in her
two hands. “A teenage boy plus one uber-charged race car,
multiply that by the dozen cops watching for speeders along I-90 and that
equals…yup, he’s right. Nothing but trouble.”

Ronnie started laughing
semi-hysterically, then he went to his grandfather and hugged him right off his
feet.

“Careful with these old
bones, there, sonny-boy,” Morris said in a strangled voice.

“Ooh, sorry,” Ronnie said, placing him gently back on the ground. “It’s just that… this is the best
present I ever got.""Ya mean besides the corvette you got as a graduation present that you sold without telling your dad to fund your failed musical venture?" Morris said, wearing a tiny smirk.Ronnie turned crimson about the neck. "Oh, yeah... heard about that, huh?""Yup! Your brother couldn't wait to tell me," Morris retorted."Well...uh...I definitely won't do that again," Ronnie said. "I swear!""Don't blame ya for getting rid of a corvette," Sophie piped in. "How the heck did you drive it? You musta squeezed yourself into it. I know it's a bit snug for me and you're much bigger.""Yeah, that was the reason...I grew another two inches the summer after graduation so..." Ronnie said, rubbing the top of his head, which he still recalled perfectly how his head scraped the roof so much that he had to hunch his shoulders and lean forward. Ugh, it was awful!Morris laughed. "Shoulda told your dad that part.""Yeah, well...never said I was too bright," Ronnie muttered. "But really, thanks, Grampa. Thank you so much. I'll take really good care of it.”

“You’re very welcome,” Morris said, pleased as punch.

“Why…I mean…not to look a gift car in the trunk or
anything but, why would you spend so much money on me if you knew all of that?” Ronnie said, nervously. “I mean… I haven’t done anything to deserve it, have I? I’m not like Simon. He’s always perfect and
never does anything wrong.”

Morris smiled. “Don't ever compare yourself to others, Sonny. It's the worse thing you could do. I know you’re a good kid first hand. Remember I was your ethics professor after all, so I know where your heart is and now you’re heading out to the
big city to seek your fortune and I have faith you will. So…I wanted to make sure you had a reliable way to come back home
every so often, ‘cause you’ve kinda grown on me and Martina and me, and I’m sure the rest of your family, we all want to
see you back home as often as possible.”

Sophie nudged Ronnie in
the ribs and said in a stage whisper, “That means he loves you,
case you missed it.”

Ronnie grinned. “I love you, too, Grampa,” he said.

“Well,” Morris said, gruffly. “Get in and check it out…make sure you like the feel of it. Make sure there's enough room! No use driving a car you don’t like, just don’t take it out yet, not without me.”

"I already know I love it," Ronnie said.

“Go on!” Sophie said, pushing Ronnie around to the driver's side of the car.

“You get in too, girlie.
See how the passenger seat feels,” Morris told her. “I expect you to come home whenever you can, too…you gotta keep my boy company on the long ride home. Don’t be long now. Martina will start yelling if there’s nobody eating her food.”

“Awesome!” said Sophie. She giggled and jumped right in. “Oh, man, I love this!”

“What’s not to love?” Ronnie said. He sat there mesmerized and
dared not touch anything. He was sure he was dreaming!

“Well?” she said. “What do you think? Is it good enough to keep? Shoulda
bought you some fuzzy dice for Christmas or something just as gaudy.”

He slowly turned to look
at her, his expression serious. “Do you think… I mean, you don’t think Simon’s gonna be all jealous or anything and make a
stink about it, do you?”

“Why the hell should he?” Sophie said. “He’s already got a car, a nice
one too.”

“Yeah, but… I’ll bet he thinks I shouldn’t get such an expensive gift from our grandfather if he only
gets a watch or new laptop or something…don’t know what he got,” Ronnie said. “He’s always like that, ya know?”

Sophie rolled her eyes. “That’s his problem. Don’t make it yours!” she said. “Mr. Kramer wants you to
have this! You have every right to enjoy it without guilt. Wanna go for a ride?”

Ronnie shook his head. “I would but Grampa’s already gone inside
and I won’t go without him. I think he got this car more for himself than for
me.”

Sophie laughed. “Pretty late for a mid-life crisis, but maybe he forgot to have
one three decades ago,” she said.

Ronnie had been about to agree, when he spotted in his rear view mirror Simon’s car pull up right behind him. He swallowed hard expecting a sarcastic, jealousy-ridden tongue lashing, until he saw who was in the seat beside his brother. “Hey, it’s Cassie! He brought Cassie. How the hell did
he manage to get her to come over on Christmas Day?”

“Wow, Simon must’ve kidnapped her! There’s no way her father
would allow her to leave a house full of relatives on Christmas day,” Sophie said with a laugh, before she turned
around to see for herself. “Looks like she’s sleeping. Huh? You don’t think Simon would…drug her, right?”

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Violet’s in Bloom is set in modern times in a fictitious small town, Catalpa Valley in upstate New York. The story centers around three people, one desperate for love and family, the other just as desperately holding onto the past and the ghost who unwittingly stands in their way.

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